[Gimp-developer] Re : Feedback from an ordinary user

[Vincent Cadet <v_cadet yahoo fr>]

--- En date de : Ven 16.11.12, Ali Carikcioglu <ali carik gmail com> a écrit :

>Hello everyone,
>First of all, I want to thank all developers for making this great program GIMP.
>And I have some improvement suggestions about GIMP.
...
>6) Combine Save As and Export buttons:  Click Save As and, save as jpg, is not
>possible. I think Save As and Export serve the same purpose and can be combined.

Hello Ali et al.

I have the exact same concern about the save function(s). IMHO there are 5, too many of them, which most probably confuses users (I was as to the «export as» function). From what I have understood, correct me if I'm wrong:

1. Save - can only save the current project under a .XCF picture
2. Save as - idem, under a new name, remains the current project
3. Save a copy - same as save as but the copy doesn't become the current project
4. Export - Doesn't save the current project but the equivalent picture under any format, any name
5. Export as - Re-uses the name from the previous function.

Here's my point as a casual user.

In general, the more functions for the same task, the more confusing. "Save a copy" and both the "export" functions play the same role on the user's perspective: the working project remains "dirty". Whether the working project will be saved as, exported, re-exported is a choice that can occur at the save dialogue box, with check boxes for instance. I mean it's perfectly fine if you delay the decision to the last second save for it's a choice that generally occurs once.

Here's what I expect from Gimp as for the save features.

A. "Save" my image by default (when I press Ctrl+S), regardless of whether I opened a flat image or a Gimp project or any other Gimp compatible project (e.g. Photoshop, whatever).

B. "Save" my project in whatever file format I want. I don't want to think "export" for a flat image and "save [as...]" for a Gimp project. I want Gimp to think and be smart for me, he can do it after all. I don't mind a reminder about losing layers or resolution or quality... I'm fine with that. Eventually Gimp might be as smart as to suggest (i.e. preselect from the "file format" list):
   . PNG if there's and only one layer
   . XCF otherwise.

C. "Save as..." whenever I need to save my project under a new name. Again he be able to handle whatever file format I want, possibly losing quality, transparency, layers... I don't mind being reminded. (And if I could tell Gimp to not remind me in the future, that'd be even better.)

D. If I opened a flat file, Gimp should save a flat file when I use "save" (see A), eventually reminding me of the implications as I explained above. "Save as..." would then suggest saving a Gimp project however, still allowing the selection of any other file format. But in general I want to keep my layers, undo/redo levels... unless, for instance, I'm warned Gimp is going to flatten the image while saving as a flat file format.

As for saving a copy (or exporting), I have no fixed idea about that, except that I personally have no use of such a feature as all I want is keep my working project up-to-date, i.e. I want to be able to save it fast (Ctrl+S) or under a new name ("Save as"). But I want to be sure I never lose too much if something goes wrong.

If one wants it, I'd imagine a check box called "Save a copy" in the "Save as..." dialogue. It would keep the working project in the dirty state. But even then I for one see no reason nor use for that. For the record, I use the visual "star" in the title bar to check while undoing/redoing whether I reach the step when I last saved my project. This information is lost with the non-save tools.

These are of course my personal standpoints on the matter, which were IIRC as implemented in Gimp 2.6. So I guess you guys had reasons to change Gimp save pattern. However I perceive the new scheme as more complex, confusing and cumbersome than before with more than half of the features that, on the user's perspective bring no valuable difference.

Keep rocking.

Vince C.

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